These faulty assumptions were often encouraged by their buyer's agents even though the  agents knew very well that the fundamentals did not support the comps they were seeing (and despite the fact that agents have a fiduciary duty towards their clients).  

I suspect that since you are a math guy, you will see the fundamentals of this sooner than later.

Fundamentally, in this story, I would earn your fee for you, so I can buy the assets I had to do all the work on to get to in the first place.  

The strategy is fundamentally different than paying off a traditional mortgage in that you use your HELOC as a place to store your money. 

Let's set the tone straight; most people don't get into the rental business because they like to manage problematic tenants, deal with leaky toilets or attend eviction hearings.Most people follow traditional investment strategies, that are taught to be passive, but that in reality are far from passive for the great majority of investors.At the very core, most people begin in therental business because they believe in the fundamentals of investing and desire to create some level of freedom and passive income to supplement their current income, and at the same time would like to have some sort of control over their investment.There is nothing wrong with this, and i certainly wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from buying rental houses, if that’s what you really want to do.

Learning the fundamentals is vital for long term success. 

to look at the fundamentals and metrics to buy or sell objectively.  

This eases my mind, at least a little bit: http://www.freddiemac.com/multifamily/pdf/mf_property_valuations.pdfConclusionIt is an unusual time for multifamily fundamentals and capital markets.

I do not want to attack anyone else's beliefs, but I find gaping holes in the fundamental's in most religions.

I know you and I fundamentally disagree of the need for much of what has been propagated in the last several years, and this could be part of the reason we do.